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Social Agenda – Innovation is also valid for employment and social policy

Innovation can help promote inclusive growth, fight against poverty, ensure a successful transition to a green economy and implement the youth guarantee, says the November issue of Social Agenda.

Social Agenda 35 contains a special feature on the new Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) 2014-2020 funding programme, which will give a boost to innovation as well as to social enterprises, and pave the way for experimentation on a greater scale via the new European Social Fund (ESF) 2014-2020.

Statistics contained in Social Agenda 35:

More than 6 000 entrepreneurs have already benefited from loans worth a total of close to €50 million under Progress Microfinance. Almost 80% of the micro-companies supported are start-ups operating for less than three years.

In 2012, 4 of the 41 existing EU sectoral social dialogue committees agreed on binding agreements - on working time in inland waterways transport, occupational health and safety in hairdressing, work in the sea fisheries sector and standard player contracts in the professional football sector.

44% of workers are covered by negotiated agreements in the Central and Eastern European Member States, compared to 70% of workers in the rest of the EU.

Roma people form a significant proportion of the population in Bulgaria (c.10%), Slovakia (9%), Romania (8%), Hungary (7%), Greece, the Czech Republic and Spain (1.5-2.5% each).

In Bulgaria and Romania, Roma people form 1 in 5 new labour market entrants.

Full Roma integration in the labour market could bring economic benefits estimated at around €0.5 billion annually for some countries.

The EaSI programme 2014-2020 will increase funding for innovation from €2-4 million under PROGRESS 2007-2013 to €10-14 million.

With an overall budget of €919.5 million in current prices (taking inflation into account), EASI will allocate 61% of its funds to the PROGRESS axis, 18% to EURES and 21% to the microfinance/social entrepreneurship axis.

Europe has witnessed an increase in poverty and social exclusion of 4 million more people in the last 3 years.